Martial Arts

[QuietiManes]

Tai Bo is not a martial art

Yeah, I\'m down with Billy Blanks or whatever that dudes name is. As far as my own comment about your quote it was meant to illustrate my point further, sort of tongue in cheek, showing the similarity I see with \"tai bo\" and the \"womens defense\" classes AND how some people think they\'re superman/wonderwoman when they take an exercise or defense class.

 

[Starfall]

Has anyone experiences with Tai Chi and/or Aikido? I can\'t decide which one to try. I\'ve also thought about Karate but when everyone told me it will be incredibly bad for your joints (knee and elbow) if not executed correctly (which is difficult enough), I decided to ignore that plan.

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by pitynoman
I used to bench 450 lbs,squat 500

A few years back I ran into a guy who used to babysit me when I was a toddler. He had become a professional body builder and could squat 900 lbs.
Since I drove a VW beetle at the time, I realized 2 of him could lift my car!

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by Ebonbuddha
You should try to get work in Japan Tony. I have a couple of friends there who love it. A lot of people have left korea for Japan and say the people in Japan are more civil. I never had a problem there.

If memory serves, you are black. I have heard from folks who traveled there that black people get treated differently.
One, they attract a lot more female attention, and two they get stared at a LOT.
Have you found either to be the case?

 

[the.jack]

Gunkata.

Seriously, though. Going on four years of capoeira, Abada school maestre Camisa.

Dancing to kick your ASS.

 

[RecoilStudios]

listen...karate will not be as straining on your joints as akido...akido is using your opponents momentum against him.Lots of wrist locks,breaks,and bars.Very painful stuff.tai chi...bah i did that for a little bit.it is a real martial art but..its more or less an exercise thing..well thats the way most people teach it unfortunatly...id recomend karate or aikido if you want some serious contact with another.

 

[G-nome]

Starfall, if you want to jump right in to fighting then I would not recomend tai chi. While it is highly effective, you do need to be very skilled.
You will also need to find a non airy-fairy new age teacher and get someone who knows the difference between how the bones fracture if you twist the arm this way instead of that way. The teacher needs to teach all apects of it, the fighting as well as the health. My teacher once said that if any one purporting to teach taichi starts talking about mystical energy and stonehenge you get up walk out and never go back. Many of the moves have lovely names like \"wave hands like clouds\" and have rather nasty applications. You really have to understand the applications to get the movement correct.
If you just want to mix it up a bit as soon as you can then try something else.

I did yang style for a while and then a little bit of chen. I liked the movement and health benefits. I was happy to wait the 7 years to get the form about right, you may not be.
We also didnt have any sparring untill we had been studying for about 5 years I think it was. Though the teacher did get to demonstrate applications on us from time to time.
This was very interesting. To find yourself staggering across the room 10 paces or so away with out having felt what happened was rather strange to say the least. I never felt anything. He downplayed the internal energy thing and said it was pretty much just simple physics.
There is a description of taichi masters having arms like iron bars wrapped in cotton wool starts making some sense after an experience like that.

 

[Starfall]

Thanks G-nome and Recoil for telling me about your point of view. It\'s good to know different opinions about this topic.

 

[Ebonbuddha]

I got looks in Japan. But then again I am 6\'5\". A friend of mine who just married a Japanese girl said the new in thing is to date or have sex with a black guy.

My trip to Beijing had my wife and I followed by twenty to thirty chinese in Tiananmen Square. My wife said she thought they were ruder than Koreans. I just figured it was because they were a communist country and they just didn\'t get the exposure. To be honest I was one of three back people there.

I had a great time in both countries. Believe me, I was worried about my reseption after living here in Korea though.

Originally posted by vincegamer

Originally posted by Ebonbuddha
You should try to get work in Japan Tony. I have a couple of friends there who love it. A lot of people have left korea for Japan and say the people in Japan are more civil. I never had a problem there.

If memory serves, you are black. I have heard from folks who traveled there that black people get treated differently.
One, they attract a lot more female attention, and two they get stared at a LOT.
Have you found either to be the case?

 

[Modderrhu]

Originally posted by G-nome
You will also need to find a non airy-fairy new age teacher and get someone who knows the difference between how the bones fracture if you twist the arm this way instead of that way. The teacher needs to teach all apects of it, the fighting as well as the health. My teacher once said that if any one purporting to teach taichi starts talking about mystical energy and stonehenge you get up walk out and never go back.
...
He downplayed the internal energy thing and said it was pretty much just simple physics.

That\'s exactly my impression after my rather limited experience of Tai Chi experience. My summation is that \"Chi\" is a very useful concept, but it\'s not some mystical energy or some cosmic connection. Rather, it\'s a collection and an application of biological and physical concepts like circulation, respiration, centre-of-gravity and levers. Post-rennaisance science introduced the analysis and understanding of Chi\'s components and has demystified it. Of course, its development in the Shaolin temple and the Wutan monasteries without the benefit of scientific analysis does little to shield it from those who choose ignorance and oneness with the Universe and Alice.

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by EbonbuddhaMy trip to Beijing had my wife and I followed by twenty to thirty chinese in Tiananmen Square. My wife said she thought they were ruder than Koreans.

I have heard that staring is not considered rude in China. They probably would have been shocked to hear that your wife thought they were rude.
Just shows social mores are culturally/geographically limited.

p.s. My wife went to China in high school and there was a 6\' black student in the group. She said he was constantly being stared at and photographed. Being in high school though, I think he hammed it up and liked the attention.

 

[supervike]

Originally posted by Ebonbuddha
My trip to Beijing had my wife and I followed by twenty to thirty chinese in Tiananmen Square. My wife said she thought they were ruder than Koreans. I just figured it was because they were a communist country and they just didn\'t get the exposure. To be honest I was one of three back people there.

I\'ve worked with a buddy (who happens to be a 6\'4\" black guy) in small rural towns in Iowa. Now no-one followed us around but it is very odd to see people gawking. I asked it he puts up with this often, he said, \"just every day of my life\"...

 

[Starfall]

My experience is that the Japanese are the very best budoka in most cases (of course there are exceptions (e.g. non-Japanese Yokozuna (Sumo))) and they can be quite harsh when criticising hakujin that practise Budo. But often they are right when they say western people use to much strength and don\'t work with their hip enough. If you watch their fighting style, yo recognize it\'s a big difference indeed.

 

[vincegamer]

While they\'ve democratized, the Eastern martial arts were a bit racist for quite a while. My understanding is that Bruce Lee got into some trouble for teaching white people to fight.

 

[Logan]

Originally posted by vincegamer
My understanding is that Bruce Lee got into some trouble for teaching white people to fight.

He did. Bruce Lee had a very open approach to who learnt Kung Fu but the problem was he was perceived as revealing the \'ancient secrets\' to foreigners. He got confronted by a San Francisco Kung Fu group one evening and either had to agree to a challenge (fight a rival master) or close down his school.
Obviously he took the challenge. He didn\'t expect it to last longer than 10 seconds but it lasted over 3mins, which doesn\'t sound a lot but left Lee physically and mentally drained. He was very despondent in his performance and realised he didn\'t have the tools to take someone out first time. This was a defining moment in his life and he set about obsessively improving his aerobic and physical being, driven on by the prospect of losing.

 

[Logan]

Originally posted by Ebonbuddha


My trip to Beijing had my wife and I followed by twenty to thirty chinese in Tiananmen Square. My wife said she thought they were ruder than Koreans.

Originally posted by Ebonbuddha



I think sometimes it\'s just people being outside of their comfort zones or seeing things they deem \'unusual\'.

My son has got very blond, almost white hair and when we took him to Euro Disney we were constantly stopped by Japanese tourists asking if they could take his picture or touch his hair.

I was thinking I could maybe trade him Arabian-style for a nice camera or such like lol

 

[Logan]

Originally posted by Ebonbuddha


My trip to Beijing had my wife and I followed by twenty to thirty chinese in Tiananmen Square. My wife said she thought they were ruder than Koreans.

I think sometimes it\'s just people being outside of their comfort zones or seeing things they deem \'unusual\'.

My son has got very blond, almost white hair and when we took him to Euro Disney we were constantly stopped by Japanese tourists asking if they could take his picture or touch his hair.

I kept thinking I could maybe trade him Arabian-style for a nice camera or such like lol

 

[Itchy]

Hey... you\'re all disciplined men and women around here. How far is too far? i\'ve got a kid who tries to pick fights with me... i\'d like to think i\'m pretty level headed and have always walked away. He\'s got a bit of weight on me, but you can tell by the way he holds himself and his footing that he\'s not a fighter (in fact, he thinks he\'s a tough guy because he played high school football but, as far as i know, has zero fight training). i\'ve got a few inches of reach on him and i\'m pretty sure he\'d come out on the wrong end of the fight, but last time he went from just saying insults to actually shoving me. But he did it in front of our recruiter and 4 cops... i still would have walked away but that just made the decision that much easier. How can i get it through to him that, even though he\'s got some weight on me, he still wouldn\'t win the fight so he should cool it? Or should i just have him meet me at a gym with a boxing ring and agree that anything goes?

 

[mack1]

Started Aikido when I was a teenager and stuck with it for nearly 3 years (learned a lot) until the class broke up and I\'ve been doing Tai-Chi (chen style)ever since - (nearly 16 years now) And I\'m still learning things...

Like G-nome says, many \"teachers\" preach of mystical moves and spiritual stuff - there is a tiny grain of truth there but don\'t go expecting to learn how to fly ! lol.

Sometimes my friends ask me to show them how to apply Tai-Chi in real life but I can\'t - Its so fast and second nature that unless you take the time to really, really \"learn\" how to do something you will never know how to \"feel\" the opponent (expecting jokes here) and therefore never be able to execute the move properly. Did that last bit make sense?

Basically - If you want to know how to \"smash someones face in\" go do Muay Thai - you will learn that pretty quickly (it is very effective) If you want to know how to be basically untouchable - Train for years and years in Tai-Chi.

Addittion - There is no right or wrong martial art, just different angles pointing to the same goal. Go for one that you feel is comfortable for you and that you like doing (some people search many times to find a good teacher). Above all, be happy with what you do and try not to use your skills for destruction, there are too many people like that in the world already.

 

[Modderrhu]

Originally posted by Itchy
How can i get it through to him that, even though he\'s got some weight on me, he still wouldn\'t win the fight so he should cool it?

Well, I don\'t know a damn thing about Muay Thai, but from all accounts it does seem pretty bloodthirsty. Not really what you want though, is it? Also, concern yourself with styles that focus on close to medium range - you typically won\'t have much room to move once he\'s gotten up close to you, and that makes kicking awkward. Long ranged styles generally require the intent to attack.

If you just want to defend, I think that Judo will probably teach you the most quickly. A couple of lessons and you\'ll have a few moves that will see him sprawling on the ground. Something to surprise him with, but you want to impress him too, so...

If you\'re expecting more of a brawl, then try Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. It will take longer to learn than Judo, but includes striking techniques which are completely lacking in Judo. BJJ is probably the most practical martial art style. Definitely the one for the pugilists, and it will see you through those drunken nights away from the barracks. lol